2.2.2. Simulation perimeter

Given the position of Belgium in the heart of the European electricity system and its degree of interconnection, it is a must to simulate a large part of Europe. This will allow to accurately take into account European developments that have an impact on the country. Moreover, in order to properly assess the achievement of the decarbonisation targets the European electricity system has to be analysed as a whole.

THE SIMULATION PERIMETER COVERS 22 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES = EU22 (FIG. 14)

EU22

Nordics

British Isles

BeNeLux

France DE-AT-CH Central

Iberia IT-SI

Twenty-two countries are explicitly modelled in detail for this study (named ‘EU22’). Those countries were clustered in eight regions for the purpose of showing detailed scenario assumptions: — Iberia consisting of Spain and Portugal; — France; — The British Isles consisting of the United Kingdom4 and the

Republic of Ireland; — The BeNeLux region consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; — The German-Austrian-Swiss region (DE-AT-CH) zone consisting of Germany, Austria and Switzerland; — The Central region consisting of Hungary, Slovakia, the

Czech Republic and Poland; — The Italian-Slovenian region (IT-SI) consisting of Italy and

Slovenia; — The Nordics consisting of Norway, Denmark, Sweden and

Finland. All market simulations assume the current EU bidding zone configuration. Other configurations are out of scope of this study. Due to the specific market situations in Italy, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, these countries are modelled with more market nodes inside their country. This type of specific modelling is in line with the approach used in other studies done within the ENTSO-E context. Other European countries are not modelled. No exchanges are assumed between the simulated perimeter and the non-modelled countries.